DIY Archives - Better Than Newlyweds

DIY Master Bathroom Makeover: The Mirror | Better Than Newlyweds | Stacy Hudson

July 18, 2014 by Mrs. Hudson

Everything big happens in small steps. That’s the way things go in our house anyways! The BIG thing we would like is for our outdated master bathroom to get a full makeover BUT the reality is that it will happen in small steps until we can afford to gut it if we choose. We are doing things the Dave Ramsey way so right now our budget (everyone should have one!) is focused on paying off debt. In our 3+ years of marriage we have worked hard and paid off credit cards and one student loan and are now working on our last student loan! So there is no big money to redo the bathroom. However, When I found a mirror that could replace our old tri fold medicine cabinet mirror… for only 15 bucks… it was worth it for me! Even if I had to give up a few cups of coffee to make up the difference in our budget! However, I try to include “craftiness and DIY desires” in our budget! We had a budget meeting where we decide what goes in the budget… Ill discuss that in another post! 😀

I found the mirror I used to update our bathroom on a Facebook re-sale group! I LOVE buying from other folks! It is basically a combination of a garage sale and an auction! Two of my favorite things!

We were not fans of the color but I knew that could be fixed with a can of spray paint or two! What mattered was that it was the right size! We had a tall narrow spot on the wall to fill. So after measuring and then buying the mirror it was time to paint! I just set the mirror on top of an old bar stool that could use a coat of paint anyhow… and sprayed away! It took maybe 5 – 10 minutes… I did 2 coats to be sure I covered up the lovely gold.

After painting it was time to put it up in the bathroom! My hope was that the new mirror would cover up the old wallpaper we discovered under our old mirror (don’t worry the counter top is my next project!)… that did not happen…

So thankfully the previous homeowner left us a BIG bucket of paint that was leftover from when they painted the house right before we bought it…..so we busted that out and I got to stirring and painting!

My sweet hubby helped me rewire the back of the mirror so it would hang easier on the 2 screws (with drywall anchors) I put in the wall. I will probably go fill in the old screw holes left by the old mirror…. one day! But for now we are enjoying our new mirror… and not seeing myself from 3 angles when I wake up in the morning in all my half awake wonderfulness is a plus! 🙂

p.s. Don’t worry… that light fixture is on our to do list too! 😉

1 Corinthians 13:12 (NASB) “12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.”

DIY Curb Appeal Makeover Phase 1: Front Garden Project |Stacy Hudson |Better Than Newlyweds

June 10, 2014 by Mrs. Hudson

So my to do list for my business, household, house projects, and just life never seems to end. I’m trying to just get things done instead of waiting to have the perfect plan to get things done… cause in reality… things never work out like we plan them anyways right?! And DONE is better than NOT! So we are learning to do things in phases. Sometimes that means things look a little ugly before they get prettier BUT the important part is they eventually GET DONE!

Our front garden area was always a project we knew we would have to tackle one day but we just didn’t know when and it really wasn’t a priority. Well, over the past few months we have been praying about the path God wanted us to take and a calling for us to possibly move. This would mean of course, selling our house. THAT would mean A LOT of things but we knew that it for sure meant we needed to work on our curb appeal in case that was the direction we felt like God wanted us to go. So we got to work!

This is a picture of the front garden as it has grown over the past year and a half or so that we have lived here…obviously we neglected it and it grew!

front before 20140302_175341 — This is a picture of the front garden as it has grown over the past year and a half or so that we have lived here…obviously we neglected it and it grew!

So first thing I did was trim what we already had in place and it looked better BUT neither of us was really happy with that as the final product. And with my HH (Handsome Hubby) being a realtor… I knew for sure it wasn’t gonna fly like that if we ended up selling and moving. What do you think……(picture below)? 😀

So we decided to dig everything up. Some of the plants we decided to relocate… others we gave away or just tossed. You know no one wants those annoying painful sticker plants anyhow! It always seems we wait til it is warmish or hot to do outdoor projects! One year we will have to do these when it is cooler out! Either way phase 1 of clean up and dig up was under way! We had some leftover pavers from the patio we put in on the side of our carport (post coming soon) and I wanted to use them in the front somewhere. I tried them out for a path way but decided to do something else with them that I’ll be posting about later! So stay tuned!

front garden removing plants

Our dog, Lagniappe (pronounced Lan – Yap), offered to help us dig! 😀 It is one of his specialties! After we dug up the plants we added some dirt to the beds to fill them out some! Then we tilled it to mix up the new/old dirt. My great Father in Law helped us with that! 😀

Phase 1 done! Here is a list of all that we did! It was a lot of work but the end result will be worth it!

cleaned up old bed
trimmed old plants
dug up old plants
relocated old plants
added dirt to beds (we did the left side of the house too!)
tilled the beds

front right garden before 20140302_175253 tilled 20140321_132143_Port Hudson Dr

Now we are ready to figure out the shape we want and plants we want! Phase 2 post coming soon!

Do you like to garden? What is your favorite plant?

Share your garden adventures in a comment below!

Jeremiah 29:5 Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them;

DIY Valentine ideas for your spouse on a budget

January 25, 2014 by Mrs. Hudson

Don’t forget to do something special for your spouse for valentine’s day! If you are like us… you like to save money!

To save money I like to do low cost crafts or simple DIY things to make Valentine’s day special! A few things I do sometimes that cost $0 (or close to it!) are:

– Leave a sweet handwritten note by the coffee pot so he finds it in the morning

– Use a dry erase maker to leave a big heart on the bathroom mirror that he will see first thing!

– I got a pack of 12 plastic hearts from the dollar tree and filled each one with a Bible verse about Love and then hid them all over the house… it takes more than one day to find them all… it makes him feel special when he finds one on a “regular” day!

– make him breakfast that is ready when he wakes up!

– We like to rent movies at the Red Box… A sweet gesture on my part is to let him pick the movie…(and not complain if he picks a shoot em up! 😉 )

– Write out your prayer for your spouse and leave it for him to find… this lets them know how you are praying for them and how thankful you are for them!

For some more check the link below:

15 easy-to-make decorations that are guaranteed to bring love to your home.